Reasons
by AriMarvelUniverse
Summary: One shot of Silver, set before Sonic '06. Another reason he has to reverse the catastrophe and stop the Iblis Trigger. Please R&R!


For the inhabitants of the desolate future wasteland known as Mobius, many things were hard to come by, including simple things like food and shelter. Perhaps the hardest of these things to attain was a single good nights sleep. With poverty, sickness, and despair lining the streets of their tiny city, and fiery death and destruction waiting like a ravenous predator on the edges of society, having a real, restful, good night of unbroken sleep was like finding a diamond in the sewage runoff.

And no one knew that better than Silver the Hedgehog. He was no stranger to long periods of sleepless nights. Rest was a luxury he was seldom allowed to taste. Day in and day out, he was constantly on his feet, doing what little he could to help the citizens of their rapidly shrinking city survive another day. Not an easy task, considering they were trapped next to the ever growing Iblis Spirit.

Iblis was the tiger that stalked them, circled them, devoured more and more of their city every day. It was a demonic incarnation of the fiery Sun God Solaris. Years and years ago, before Silver was even born, some great catastrophe triggered the deity into a destructive rage. Millions were killed in the fiery backlash, and Mobius had never recovered. But Iblis was not satisfied, and had continued to ravage them ever since, hell bent on eliminating them all.

It was impossible to escape, and it was insatiable. They had tried everything- sacrifices, priests, rituals, and all out attacks. Nothing worked. The edges of the city burned away every minute.

It was a safe bet that the only thing that stood between Iblis and the certain death of the remaining Mobians was Silver. For some strange, unknown reason, the young hedgehog had been gifted with Psychokinetic abilities. It was his curse. Early on, he had been tasked to protect the city endlessly, battling with Iblis in near death matches in desperate attempts to shield Mobius from a blazing end.

He'd never had a choice, or even a break. But there were other things he did have, and one in particular that he was in danger of losing.

«»«»«»«»«»«»«»

Night found Silver fast asleep for once, passed out over the arm of a lumpy chair in the small, abandoned apartment where he lived. Over the years, he'd developed something akin to insomnia, but after two weeks of not sleeping ending with another battle with Iblis, his body had forced itself to shut down.

He was the picture of exhaustion. His quills were matted, singed, and unruly. Large, weeping burns covered his platinum colored coat. His amber eyes were shut, and the bags under them were visible. His limbs were splayed over the chair like he didn't have the strength to arrange them after he collapsed. His muzzle rested in a huge puddle of drool, and he snored.

Dreams and visions of things to come danced in his brain. For a while, the only sound was his breathing, and then-

"S-Silvie?"

Silver twitched in his sleep, shifted, but didn't wake up, and the little whisper sounded again. "Silvie?" The door started to creak open on its one hinge, and dim light from the hallway spilled into the room. Silver flinched when it hit his face, and his eyes slowly opened. "Shale?"

The little hedgehog girl named Shale scratched at her curly ebony quills. "Silvie... Citrine threw up again..." she squeaked. Silver sighed and pushed himself out of his chair, grabbing her hand and following her into the hallway. "Come on...I'll take care of it."

The town had literally dropped two little hedgehog kids on his doorstep a month ago. He'd opened the door to find them wide eyed, hungry, and alone, with a short, hasty note pinned to the little one's shirt- "Here you go, Silver, these kids have no parents. We can't feed them anymore. But we're pretty sure they're related to you because they have some pretty weird abilities. Good luck." And Silver, being Silver, took them in, despite the fact that he was technically a teenager himself.

They were like little sisters to him, and they treated him like a big brother. After years of being alone, it was nice to have a family again. He'd grown to love them. Blaze had called him naive- that was her favorite word to use with him. Naive. _"Oh Silver..."_ she had sighed. _"How can you raise two kids in a world like this? With all of your responsibilities?"_

Sometimes, he wondered if she was right.

Shale glanced up at him and grinned, showing sharp little teeth. "Are you thinking about us?" she asked. Silver smiled tiredly and rubbed her ear, making her giggle. "Yup. I am."

"I knew it! I'm getting better!"

"Mm-hm." Another reason he'd decided to take them in was that they had abilities, just like him. Instead of psychokinesis, Shale possesed telepathy, and her sister could create illusions. It made living with them...interesting. He'd had to perfect locking up his thoughts, especially when Blaze was around... some of the things that ran through his mind were NOT fit for a ten year old.

But he knew how difficult trying to control things like that was, because he'd done it alone. He didn't want them to have to.

Silver and Shale walked to their room the end of the hallway in silence. Her grip on his hand tightened when they reached it, and Silver returned her nervous squeeze. He knew how hard this was for her. The blankets piled by the door glowed blue and green, matching the haze surrounding Silver's hand. He moved them away with his mind and twisted the door knob, opening it.

Citrine, the youngest, lay in a pallet of covers in the middle of the floor. Her eyes were closed, and she shivered despite the sheets. Her amber colored quills were matted and sweaty. The sour smell of sickness permeated the whole room.

Silver swallowed and kneeled next to the tiny hedgehog, forcing himself to smile, even though the sight of her frail body made him want to weep. "Hi, Citrine."

"H-h-h-hi..."

"Shale told me you weren't feeling good."

"'M-m-m-m f-f-f-ine."

Silver brushed her damp forelock away from her veined blue eyes. "You threw up again."

"S-s-s-s-sorry..."

"I'm going to clean you up now, okay?"

"K-k-k-k-ay."

"Shale?"

"I'm on it, Silvie." Shale piped, having already plucked the thought from his brain. She scurried out of the room, then returned holding a bowl of water and a rag. Silver gritted his teeth and started gently washing bloody vomit out of Citrine's fur. Even though he barely touched her, his fingers left bruises that spread and darkened rapidly. She flinched and whimpered, tears spilling down her cheeks.

Violet Fever, caused by the toxic fumes Iblis gave off as it burned their city. It caused tremors, blood poisoning, headaches, and internal hemorrhaging. There was no cure. And Citrine had come down with it. His maybe-little sister, only six years old, was dying a horrible death.

All because of Solaris, and Iblis, and whatever had triggered the apocalypse. If that hadn't happened so many years ago, Silver wouldn't be watching her deteriorate before his eyes.

Shale cradled Citrine's head as he worked, wiping tears from her face and whispering to her. "Once upon a time, there was a Princess named Citrine..."

"A-a-a-a-and one n-n-n-named S-s-s-shale..."

"Alright, and a Prince named Silver, who was in love with a Queen named Blaze-"

"Hey!" Silver said teasingly, giving the black hedgekid a nudge. "I am not."

"I said PRINCE Silver." Shale said, sticking out her tounge. "You are not a Prince. Now hush, you're ruining the story."

"Yes, ma'am."

Citrine managed a shaky, breathy laugh before she began to cough, and red spots dotted the white fluff on her chest.

Silver's eyes hardened as he cleaned the puke from Citrine's fur. '_Someday_,' he vowed, '_I will find out why this happened. I will reverse this. Whoever's fault this is...they will pay.'_

_'I swear on my life...I will destroy the Iblis trigger. Somehow...'_


End file.
